Prologue

“You're making the right choice, Gypsy."

Gypsy nodded as the woman stroked her arm gently and finally left, cradling her trophy. It was a baby: Gypsy's baby.

She'd just given her two-week-old baby up for adoption. She'd had no choice. She was just an eighteen-year-old high school graduate with no job who'd run away from home and slept under bridges and near trash cans.

It was no life for a newborn. Not to talk about the fact that every time she looked at the boy, it reminded her of why he was here in the first place: the rape which had destroyed her life.

There hadn't been any formalities or signing of papers. The child was just two weeks old. The couple were rich and were going to register the kid as their own.

This is the best decision I could've made.

Gypsy forced herself to believe that, but as she walked away, she couldn't explain the gaping emptiness that'd settled within her chest.

*******

“You've got to be kidding me."

“You can't be serious."

The man and the woman said at the same time, startling Gypsy despite how quietly they'd spoken. She had tears streaming down her face, begging them to please give her back her son.

She'd tried to live the last ten months like everything was normal, convincing herself that she'd made the best decision of her life by giving her son away.

But that sense of loss and emptiness never left her. Most nights she would wake up to nightmares of her son staring at her so intensely that she would burst into flames in her nightmares.

It only seemed to get worse until she couldn't take it anymore. Add that to the fact that guilt was whipping her all the time for making the stupidest decision of her life, and she'd done everything to hunt the couple down.

Now here she was, but so far, all her please seemed to be falling on brick grounds.

“That is unfair. You gave him to me." The woman intoned. The look in her eyes was hard and defiant.

“Because I had nothing at that time. I was sleeping on the street.” Gypsy said, voice turning hoarse from all the crying.

They were in a Cafe with thankfully a few people. Otherwise, this would've been more embarrassing.

“Now I have a job, ma'am. I work as a house help at a woman's house. It's not much but at least my son will have enough to eat."

“But we can offer him all the luxuries." The man butted in. “You think the boy deserves to live the frugal lifestyle you're going to subject him to?"

Gypsy remained silent but there was no way she was backing down now. “Please, I just want my son back."

The man shot up to his feet. “Well, that's never going to happen, you bitch!"

His voice was much louder this time, and Gypsy knew they'd drawn the attention of people around.

“We love the boy like he's our own. He is our own. We are not going to give him back to you simply because you've sprung some maternal instincts. Never." The woman also got up to her feet and signaled her husband for them to leave.

Gypsy watched them with desperation, tears running down her cheeks. The man bent down to whisper in her ear.

“Don't even think about taking us to court because it's going to bite you in the ass. You don't know the kind of connections and influences I have. I could have you locked up for the rest of your life. Think about it, my dear."

His voice was calm, sweet even, and yet it sent a shiver right down her spine. An avalanche of panic crashed inside her.

“No! Please listen to me! Have mercy." She shot to her feet and followed them, heart pounding, desperate, wanting them to understand her and help her out.

They didn't stop to turn. If anything they hurried out. Gypsy was now outside the Cafe, screaming after them. They entered their car and drove away.

She crumbled to the ground, crying her eyes out, her heart feeling like a dead weight was lying on it. How could she have been so stupid to give her son up like that?

“I can help you.” A voice suddenly said above her.

She tensed and very slowly lifted her face from her hands. Looking around, she could see people looking at her. Some with disgust, some with pity.

She looked up at the owner of the voice. He was a tall good looking man who looked to be in his early forties. His golden eyes seemed to pierce right into her.

“I heard everything. I can help you get your son back.”

Confusion transformed to doubt, then doubt to incredulity.

“I'm sorry, I don't even know you.” She tried to make her voice stable. “Why would you want to help me?”

The stranger sighed. The little smile he'd been wearing slipped off, and his eyes shimmered brightly with tears that didn't fall.

“The woman who gave birth to me left me at the doors of an orphanage. I grew up as an orphan. None of the people who came to adopt gave me a second look. Nobody wanted me. I grew up yearning all my life for my mother to return but she never did."

He extended his hand to help her get up. Gypsy stared warily at it before accepting his help.

He looked into her eyes. “No child deserves to grow up without the love of his real mother. Since you've regretted what you did, I want to help you."

“I... I could never repay you."

“You can come work for me as payment. Is that okay?"

“I will do anything to have my son back."

“Anything?”

Gypsy nodded earnestly. “Anything, Mr... "

“Arrow. Arrow Falcon."

Within a week she had her son back and legally registered in her name. How the heck Mr. Falcon had managed to do that, she didn't particularly care.

If only she knew she'd just signed a deal with the devil himself.